March 06, 2008

Discovery of Mycenaean tomb in Lefkada

ATHENS, Greece (March 5) - Road construction on the western Greek island of Lefkada has uncovered and partially destroyed an important tomb with artifacts dating back more than 3,000 years, officials said on Wednesday.

The find is a miniature version of the large, opulent tombs built by the rulers of Greece during the Mycenaean era, which ended around 1100 B.C. Although dozens have been found in the mainland and on Crete, the underground, beehive-shaped monuments are very rare in the western Ionian Sea islands, and previously unknown on Lefkada.

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She said the tomb contained several human skeletons, as well as smashed pottery, two seal stones, beads made of semiprecious stones, copper implements and clay loom weights. It appeared to have been plundered during antiquity.

With a nine-foot diameter, the tomb is very small compared to others, such as the Tomb of Atreus in Mycenae, which was more than 46 feet across and built of stones weighing up to 120 tons.

5 comments:

Excellent news!!!Lefkada island has also one of the biggest Kurgan tombs in Greece!Since various skeletons have been found, a proper anthropological study of those could enlighten even further the physical appearance of Myceneans and if they were differences of any kind among the various Mycenaean populations of the country.Prof. Pitsios will have a lot of work to do!!!

I forgot to say that last Autumn a Mycenaean cemetery was discovered in the eastern slopes of mount Olympus!!!Most of the jewelery and artifacts were stolen by robbers but many bones and skulls have been unearthed there.This is another answer to those who support that the Macedonian land was not Greek but it became so after Alexander's Empire.

Very exciting! Im sure there are alot of tombs and other monuments throughout Greece who are waiting to be discovered! The found sceletons must make every anthropologists heart beat faster! We are waiting for the studies and the results!

Why should they imitate burial customs my dear Crimson Guard?Burial customs are exclusive marks of each tribe and very, very, very, AND I MEAN VERY rarely they get imitated and even then not exactly as the original form!!!No, the Olympus burials were authentic Mycenaean burials.And Mycenaean is the correct term for the culture since Mycenaeans might have been mostly proto Achaeans but proto Ionians and proto Aeolians were included.Linear B tablets have shown this!!!

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